A Daunting Mission
by JSRobertson
Summary: After a long and exhausting mission, Lee and Janet need a vacation. Will the admiral let them go?
1. Chapter 1

A Daunting Mission

By JSRobertson

_Seaview _sailed into port battered and bruised. She would need to be dry docked to repair a few of her frames after encountering an unhappy whale while returning from the last mission. Some of her crew were also battered and bruised but nothing serious as none of the injuries required a stay in sick bay. The mission had also left the crew exhausted and they all needed a vacation.

After leaving _Seaview _in the capable hands of the dock crew, the executive officers returned to the institute. They said hello to Angie and Wanda and went to their offices to check on how much work had piled up on their desks. The admiral stopped at Angie's desk as she handed him a file full of letters he needed to sign and proposals to look over. He looked at her and sighed.

Janet went to Lee's office after seeing all the work on her desk and saw his desk had twice as much on it as hers.

"Lee, I know the timing isn't right but we need to get away. This last mission just about pushed me over the edge," she told him as she sat down on the couch.

"I know sweetie. I feel the same way," he replied sitting at his desk. "But what are we going to do? You know how the admiral feels about that subject. Wait here a minute."

They were both exhausted and needed to get away so Lee and Janet wanted to take a vacation. Lee decided to ask the admiral for some time off. He wasn't sure the admiral would let them go as they have a poor track record when it came to going on vacation. The trips to Mexico and Chicago were disasters so they were a little leery about trying again.

Lee walked into Angie's office and noticed the admiral's door was closed.

"Angie is the admiral available?" he asked before he knocked on the door.

"Yes, he is Lee," she replied noticing he didn't look too happy. She didn't have a chance to ask the admiral how the mission went but after looking at Lee, she knew it couldn't have gone very well. Lee knocked on the door.

"Come in," the admiral said as he sat at his desk signing the letters Angie gave him. "Hi Lee, what can I do for you?"

Looking at all the letters Lee told him smiling, "You're going to get writer's cramp signing all those."

"I should get a stamp and have her stamp them. It sure would save time," he grinned back.

"Sir, could I ask a favor?" Lee said standing in front of the admiral's desk.

The admiral noticed how tired he looked as he stood there. "Sure, Lee."

"Janet and I would like to take a vacation. I know we've had problems in the past but we need to get away. This last mission has taken a toll on both of us."

_Seaview_ had no missions scheduled for a few weeks so if they went on vacation it would be no problem.

"Lee, let me check on a couple of things and get back to you," the admiral told him. He had an idea and wanted to check it out before giving him an answer.

"Yes sir," Lee replied happy at least he didn't say no.

Lee went back to his office, shut the door and saw Janet on the computer looking at hotels in the Bahamas.

"What did he say?" Janet asked yawning.

"He's going to get back to me. The Bahamas?" he said as he stood behind her looking at the website she had up on the computer.

"Yes, it's warm, beautiful, and far away from _Seaview_ and NIMR," she told him, "I hope you're not mad but I booked us a flight and reservations to leave in three days. We'll have to get all our work done before then."

"Sweetheart, what if he says no?" Lee asked as he rubbed his forehead.

"I have a feeling he'll let us go," she replied getting up from the desk and hugging him.

He put his arms around her, returned the hug and gave her a kiss on the forehead. He sat back down at his desk while Janet went back to her office. He looked at the work but couldn't bring himself to start working on it. He would work on it tomorrow.

((()))

After Lee left the admiral's office he called Angie and asked her to have Chip report to his office. He called Jamie at Med Bay and asked him to come over right away too. Chip left his office as soon as he got off the phone with Angie, knocked on the door and went in.

"Have a seat Chip," the admiral told him as he brought the letters out to Angie all signed and ready to go. Jamie arrived a few minutes later and sat down in the chair next to Chip facing the admiral. Both noticed Lee was not included in the meeting.

"Gentlemen, your mission if you choose to accept it...," he said with a wry grin.

Intrigued Jamie asked boldly, "What's up Harry?"

"Lee and Janet want to go on vacation," he told them. "You know what happens when they go on vacation so I thought we could go with them. Now I'm not forcing you to go but..."

Chip and Jamie looked at each other; both groaned and said, "When do we leave?"

Smiling the admiral replied, "I'm not sure. We'll be 'Crane sitters'. If we're watching them, we can make sure they don't get into any trouble."

"What about the repairs to _Seaview_?" Chip asked. "If we leave, who can we put in charge of making sure they get done?"

"Sharkey, Bob O'Brien, Kowalski, Patterson and Riley can oversee the repairs. Angie and Wanda can handle the office."

"Yes sir," he replied knowing with them in charge everything would be repaired properly.

"Good, I'll let Lee know they can go on vacation. I'll tell him that Jamie suggested we all go after _Seaview's_ last mission. They'll never figure it out," he told them chuckling. "I'll let you know when we're leaving and where we're going."

The admiral dismissed them and asked Angie to call Lee and ask him to come to his office. He knocked on the door a couple of minutes later and stood in front of the admiral as he tapped his pen on the desk.

"Lee about your vacation, I have no problem letting you take one. In fact Jamie has insisted all of us go on vacation, so we'll be accompanying you and Janet. Just tell me where we're going and how soon."

Surprised that the admiral, Chip and Jamie were going along Lee replied, "The Bahamas and in three days."

"You were that sure I'd let you go?" he chortled.

"Well..." he stammered.

They all managed to clear their desks and schedules and left three days after they returned from the mission. _Seaview_ had been dry docked and they had started on the repairs before they left.

((()))

The group flew from LAX to the Bahamas via Miami. When they landed in the evening the temperature was a balmy 75 degrees. Janet had booked rooms at the Atlantis Beach Tower on Paradise Island with ocean views. They were fortunate enough to get rooms together on such short notice. Even though they spend a lot of time in the ocean, viewing it from a balcony gave it a totally different perspective. By the time they checked in and got settled they were all bushed. The group would meet in the morning and decide what they were going to do. Janet checked out the resort online and found there was plenty to keep them occupied for the week.

Lee and Janet crawled into the king size bed. Since they were used to sleeping in the bunk on _Seaview_ they didn't need the whole bed. They didn't have any complaints about the big bed and could spread out if they wanted to but as usual Lee wrapped his arm around Janet and they both fell asleep right away.

((()))

They were up early and got ready to meet the rest of group for breakfast to figure out what they were going to do. They met the admiral, Chip and Jamie at the outdoor cafe for breakfast. It was already sunny and warm at 0700.

"Well gentlemen, what _are_ we going to do today?" Janet asked eagerly while they ate breakfast.

"How about we do nothing and lounge by the pool," Chip suggested as he checked out one of the women walking by in a bikini.

"Fine," they all replied looking forward to just relaxing and soaking up the sun.

"We'll meet up later for dinner at the southwestern restaurant say around 1800 hours," the admiral told them.

"Works for us," Lee and Janet answered as Chip and Jamie were shaking their heads in agreement.

The admiral and Jamie stayed at the pool for a couple of hours before deciding they were going to look around the resort. If Janet knew the admiral he would find the library and spend the day there. Jamie did look around the resort and found that sitting at the bar near the pool was very entertaining as he could watch all the people and he saw some pretty interesting people.

Chip, Lee and Janet walked to the pool, found lounge chairs and sat down. Janet had Lee put suntan lotion on her back and she put some on his. Chip looked at them and wondered who would do his back, Janet volunteered. She brought a book to read but Chip and Lee just sat and looked around. Hiding behind their sunglasses they were probably checking out the women.

Chip and Lee got warm sitting in the lounge chairs so they jumped in the pool to cool off. The women sitting at the pool stopped what they were doing and checked _them_ out as they got out of the water in their spandex swim trunks. Janet had to admit they both look exceptionally good in those trunks; especially her husband. After they got out of the pool and returned to their chairs, one woman actually had the nerve to sit down on Lee's lounge chair but one look from Janet and she left in a hurry.

As Chip dried off he chuckled, "You lost the bet."

With a puzzled look on her face Janet asked, "What bet?"

"Lee and I bet I would get the first girl to sit down on the lounge chair," he said still chuckling.

"Well, it's hard for any woman to tell which one of you belongs to me," she said grinning.

As Lee grabbed a towel from the chair and dried off raising his eyebrows he said, "I belong to you?"

"Damn right you do," she stated as she got up, sat down on the lounge chair with him and gave him a kiss.

As they all were laughing another woman stopped and looked at Chip. He looked her up and down and followed her into the bar. Lee and Janet were surprised as Chip didn't normally just follow a woman anywhere but especially into a bar. Even Janet had to admit she was one gorgeous looking woman with long blond hair, a nice figure and a bikini that didn't hide it. Lee also looked at her twice which got him an elbow in the ribs.

After sitting at the pool for awhile, Lee and Janet decided to go for a walk on the beach. They gathered their things and went to find Chip just as he was just coming out of the bar by himself.

"Lose your date already," Lee snorted.

"She wanted to do some things that I had no intention of doing," Chip replied with a grin.

Shaking her head at the two of them, Janet told Chip, "We're going for a walk on the beach. We'll be back in a little while."

"I'll come with you," he said taking his towel and bottle of sun tan lotion from her, "I could use a walk too."

Stopping in her tracks, "You want to walk with us on the beach?" Janet questioned, "Did the admiral tell you not to let us out of your sight. Are the three of you 'Crane sitters'?"

"Yes," he answered sheepishly, "We all have different days to watch you."

Groaning Lee responded, "Hopefully you're only 'sitting' us when we leave our room."

"Of course. How much trouble can you get into in a hotel room," Chip quipped as they headed down to the beach.

Reaching the beach Lee and Janet walked hand in hand in the soft white sand. When they got warm all three of them took a dip in the ocean. As they were walking back to the hotel to get something to eat, Lee and Janet were talking and not paying attention to what was in front of them. Chip noticed a jellyfish on the beach and had to nudge Lee out of the way or he would have stepped on it. As he nudged Lee out of the away he tripped and fell face first in the sand hitting his face on a rock but luckily not on the jellyfish. Lee and Janet helped him up but he had a severe cut on his forehead and some bad scrapes on his cheek.

"Chip, what happened," Lee asked as he helped him up.

"Just tripped over my own feet," he replied brushing the sand off himself.

"Chip you better go see Jamie," Janet told him trying to wipe off the sand from his face without hurting him. "Your forehead is bleeding pretty badly and that cut looks deep," she continued as she handed him her clean beach towel to hold against his forehead and cheek.

Sighing Chip said, "Let's go find him. It does sting a little."

They quickly walked back to the hotel and found Jamie sitting at the bar by the pool talking to the bartender. He got up from his stool when he saw Chip, Lee and Janet approaching. He removed the towel from Chip's face.

"What happened to you?" he asked as he looked at his forehead and cheek.

"I tripped and fell on a rock in the sand," Chip answered back not letting on about the jellyfish.

"We better go to my hotel room I think your forehead is going to need a few stitches. Your cheek is scraped up and I can clean that up but you're going to have a nice bruise on your cheek," Jamie said as he paid his tab and they walked out of the bar.

The four of them went up to Jamie's hotel room where he had a suitcase full of medical supplies he hoped he wouldn't need to use. He cleaned up Chip's cheek and forehead put five stitches in his forehead and covered it with a waterproof bandage and smeared some antibiotic cream on his cheek.

"You should be alright," Jamie told Chip as he put away the supplies.

"Were you expecting trouble?" Lee asked warily looking at all of the medical supplies as Jamie closed the suitcase.

"Well, with your track record, I wanted to be prepared," Jamie replied with a lopsided grin.

"Oh, you're a real riot Jamieson, you know that," Lee deadpanned.

"Come on boys play nice, plus it's time for lunch," Janet interjected.

A sea of nods met her suggestion and they headed out of Jamie's room to find a nice place to eat. As they exited the elevator into the lobby they met the admiral as he came out of the hotel café. Nelson took one look at Chip's face and sighed knowing they would all be in for a long week. He would find out later what happened.

((()))

Before they went on vacation, Lee bought Janet a new digital camera so she was taking pictures of everyone and everything. She wanted to remember how nice it was here and was having fun taking pictures. She took pictures of the admiral, Jamie and Chip while they weren't looking and Lee of course along with the hotel and ocean.

They ate lunch at the cafe and were getting ready to leave when Janet got up from the table and was going to take a picture of the four of them. She kept moving back to get them all in the picture. After taking the picture the admiral saw she was going to fall into the pool so he got up and ran over to the edge so she wouldn't fall in. As he stopped her from falling she accidentally hit him in the eye with her camera and he fell. Lee and Chip ran to the pool and pulled him out. Jamie could see he was rubbing his eye.

"Admiral, are you alright?" Lee asked worriedly as he stood there dripping wet on the pool deck.

"Yes, I'm fine," he chuckled. "I just need to change my clothes. I wasn't prepared for a swim."

"Admiral, how did you get all wet?" Janet asked innocently not realizing that he fell in the pool while she was too busy looking at the pictures she took.

"Just misjudged where the edge of the pool was," he told her wringing out his shirt.

"Okay," she answered back and went back to looking at her pictures.

"Harry, I'll go upstairs with you while you change," Jamie told him as they left the other three at the cafe.

Jamie and the admiral headed for the elevators and went to admiral's room so he could change into some dry clothes and dry out his wallet. After he was changed Jamie checked out his eye.

"Well, Harry your vision is okay but you're going to have black eye," Jamie told him as he handed him a cloth with some ice he got from the machine outside his door.

"I thought I might," he sighed, "Jamie, we've haven't even been here a day and two of us are already injured. I assume Chip's injuries involved Lee and Janet?

"He said he tripped and fell on a rock but I suspect there's more to it but he didn't tell me."

"Jamie what are we going to do? Those two are walking disasters and don't even know it."

"Maybe we should check out and head for home before anything more happens," Jamie snorted.

"Let's wait and see. If things get too bad, we might have to," the admiral chuckled.

((()))

Lee paid the bill for lunch and the three of them left the cafe. After sitting and swimming in the hot sun most of the day they decided to go back to their rooms just to cool off. They didn't want to get too much sun on the first day because no one wanted to face Jamie's wrath if they got sunburned. When the admiral and Jamie didn't come back downstairs, Lee became worried so he dialed the admiral's cell phone.

"Yes, Lee," the admiral answered after looking at the number and then Jamie.

"Just making sure you're okay," Lee replied, "and to let you know we're going to our rooms before dinner."

"I'm just fine. Jamie and I will see you at dinner."

"Yes sir." Lee disconnected the call, "He's okay and will see us at dinner," Lee told Janet and Chip.

Jamie went back to his room. He needed a drink as he was afraid there would be more trouble before they left for home. He went to the vending machine outside his door and got a soda; he would have a more substantial drink at dinner.

((()))

The hot sun and swimming tired out Lee and Janet so they took a nap before getting ready to everyone for dinner. After sleeping for a couple of hours, they were going to take a shower. Janet turned on the water and waited for it to get warm. She stood in the shower letting the warm water run over her when Lee joined her. He started to wash her back when she turned around, turned off the water, grabbed his hand and led him back to bed. They hurried back to the shower and even though they hurried they were still late. When they did arrive, the others were waiting for them when they got there.

Embarrassed Lee apologized sheepishly, "Sorry we're late."

"No problem, son," the admiral answered with a sly grin. Jamie and Chip were grinning too.

They went in the restaurant where the hostess was waiting to seat them. They all ordered margaritas and were waiting for their drinks when the admiral spoke up, "While we are on vacation I'm not to be called admiral or sir. From now on it's Harry. We are all off duty and on vacation. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Janet replied as Lee, Chip and Jamie starting laughing. She had already forgotten to call him Harry. Janet had never called him Harry before and found it very difficult to do. They enjoyed a few more margaritas and a delicious dinner.

"Why don't we go to the casino after dinner," Harry suggested as they finished up. "I feel lucky tonight."

They agreed it was a good idea so Lee paid for dinner and they walked to the casino. Once inside the admiral headed right for the roulette wheel. Too bad Sharkey wasn't there he knew how to 'gimmick' the wheel. Even without Sharkey, the admiral managed to win quite a bit of money. Lee and Janet walked around before playing the slot machines as Jamie and Chip tried their luck at Black Jack.

After a couple of hours in the casino they met up at the front door ready to head back to their hotel.

"Dinner will be on me tomorrow night," the admiral told them, "I did get very lucky tonight; how about the rest of you?"

"We didn't win anything," Lee replied.

"Either did we," Jamie and Chip answered unable to concentrate on the game as they were making sure Lee and Janet were always in sight.

It was a beautiful warm evening with a breeze coming off the ocean as they walked back to the hotel to their rooms after having a nice evening. Everyone was a bit tired.

"How about a round of golf tomorrow morning?" Jamie asked them hoping to practice his putting.

Chip and the admiral nodded yes. Lee looked at Janet who wasn't a golfer.

"Don't worry about me, I'll find something to do. Go and have a good time," she told Lee gladly. "You need to have some fun and maybe you can beat Chip. I'll be fine."

Harry, Jamie, and Chip looked at each other. They would be watching Lee but who would be watching Janet.

Taking the elevator up to their floor Janet and Lee said goodnight to the other three when they reached their room. The others waited in the hallway before going into their rooms until they heard Lee lock the door.

"Who's going to keep an eye on Janet if we play golf," Chip asked running his hand through his hair.

"How much trouble can she get into?" Jamie answered. "Let's see what she's going to do before we panic."

"Okay," Chip reluctantly agreed.

"Chip, how _did_ you hurt your face?" Harry asked.

Chip told him about the jellyfish and how Lee never even saw it and would have stepped right on it if he hadn't moved him out of the way. The admiral just shook his head wondering what was going to happen next.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lee was up early the next morning getting ready for his golf date.

As he put on a pair of shorts and a polo shirt he asked, "Sweetie what are you going to do while I'm golfing?"

"I called the spa while you were getting ready and they had an opening this morning so I'm going for a pedicure, manicure and massage."

"A massage?" Lee said rubbing his hand on his forehead. He didn't want another man touching his wife.

Without asking Janet knew he was upset about the massage. "Honey, I made sure the masseuse was a woman," she replied grinning.

Smiling he relaxed saying, "We'll meet you for lunch at the deli when we're done which should be around noon."

"Okay, sounds like a plan. Enjoy yourself."

He kissed her goodbye just as there was a knock on the door.

"What's Janet going to do while we're golfing?" Chip inquired as Lee opened the door.

"Going to the spa," he said as he closed the door giving Janet a wink.

_Okay,_ _she'll have someone to keep an eye on her while we golf,"_ Chip thought sighing with relief.

Lee and Chip met the admiral and Jamie as they left their rooms. Chip gave them thumbs up letting them know Janet wouldn't be alone.

She left a few minutes after them for her morning at the spa while the men headed to the golf course by the ocean.

((()))

Janet enjoyed having a manicure, pedicure and the massage was fantastic. She was so relaxed after the massage she felt like jelly. She arrived at the deli about 1200 hours and sat down at a table under an umbrella just as the rest of them came in. They saw her sitting there and went over to the table where Lee gave Janet a kiss and checked out her nails and toes.

"Who won?" Janet asked as she returned his kiss.

"Who else," Harry said disappointedly looking at Chip.

Chip as usual won the golf match but Jamie did improve on his putting technique. They sat down just as the waitress came over and handed them some menus. She told them what the specials were for the day before she took their drink orders and left them with some chips and dip.

"Adm...Harry what happened to your eye," Janet asked when she saw his black eye after he sat down.

"Ran into the closet door in the room during the night, don't worry I'm fine," he fibbed.

"Oh," Janet replied as she looked back at the menu trying to decide on what to have for lunch.

All of them ordered turkey sandwiches on wheat bread with some lemonade. They sat outside enjoying their lunch and discussing what they were going to do that afternoon.

"Jamie, now what are we going to do since you're today's sitter," Janet asked with a smirk.

"Whatever you want to do. You get to choose since we went golfing this morning. I'm going along just to watch so you two don't get into trouble."

"I would like to go shopping. I know it's not the most exciting thing to do but..."

"Shopping is fine with me," Lee agreed and Jamie nodded his head too.

The admiral and Chip looked at each other and decided they didn't want to go shopping.

"Chip, Harry what are you two going to do since you don't need a sitter?" Lee wondered.

"We're going to the Dolphin Cay," Harry told them as that was all he could think of at the moment, "I just want to see how they interact with them."

"Yes, we're going to the Dolphin Cay," Chip agreed quickly.

"Chip, would you mind taking some pictures of the dolphins for me?" Janet asked handing him her camera.

"Sure no problem," he replied taking the camera from her and snapped a picture of her and Harry standing there.

He caught them totally off guard and it actually was nice picture of the two of them even with Harry's black eye.

((()))

Janet, Lee and Jamie wandered down to the shopping area and were looking in the store windows. They came across a jewelry store and looked in the window when something caught Janet's eye.

"Lee, look at that watch," she said. "I really like it. Do you think we could see how much it is?"

Taking her hand, they walked into the store with Jamie following close behind. Lee asked the shopkeeper the cost of the watch. It wasn't very expensive so he bought it for her. They were both looking at the watch as they left the store and weren't pay any attention to where they were going when a boy on a bicycle rode in front of them. Jamie saw him coming and stepped in front of the boy before he hit Lee. The boy and Jamie both fell to the pavement with Jamie getting the worse of it. The boy got up, apologized and rode off while Jamie got up with a nasty gash on his arm after hitting it on the pedal of the bike.

"Jamie, are you aright?" Lee asked helping Jamie up and seeing the gash on his arm.

"Fine but I better go back to the room and take care of this," he replied taking off his shirt and wrapping it around his arm.

They hurried back to the hotel where Lee and Janet went with him to his room. As he washed it off in the bathroom, he knew he wouldn't need stitches but it was still a bad gash. He again took out his suitcase full of medical supplies. A Band-Aid wasn't going to work so Janet helped him put on some antibiotic cream and bandaged it for him using gauze pads and tape.

When Janet, Lee and Jamie finished taking care of his injury, he took some Tylenol for the pain. He didn't want it to sit on an empty stomach so he decided to get some ice cream so they went back to one of the restaurants on the beach. Jamie had found it earlier when he was exploring the resort and saw they had some pretty interesting ice cream creations. As they got to the ice cream parlor, they saw Harry and Chip on the way their way back from the Dolphin Cay. Janet went to get them before they walked by. Harry and Chip saw Jamie's bandaged arm.

"What happened to you," Harry asked anxiously.

"I'll tell you later," Jamie replied sighing.

Chip looked at Jamie and then at Harry. He could tell by the looks on their faces the rest of this vacation wasn't going to be fun. He gave Janet back her camera and she looked at the pictures.

"Thanks Chip for taking the pictures. These are fantastic."

Chip, Jamie and Harry each ordered a huge ice cream sundae while Lee and Janet shared one.

As they were eating their ice cream Harry heard Chip mumble to himself, _it's going to take a lot more than ice cream for us to make it through this vacation._

Harry just smiled knowing he was right. They finished up their ice cream and walked out to the beach. It was a beautiful day and after eating the sundaes they needed to take a walk. Harry, Jamie and Chip kept a look out for trouble as both Lee and Janet were too busy talking to notice where they were walking. They had walked about a mile on the beach before turning back. As they walked back to the hotel they were deciding on where to eat dinner. Hopefully they could enjoy a nice meal without any problems.

"Let's go to the steakhouse for dinner tonight," Chip said, "I have a taste for a nice juicy rare steak. Why don't we meet a little earlier at the bar for some drinks before we eat?"

"Sounds like a fine idea," Harry concurred. "How about wearing just a nice pair of pants and collared shirt."

"Good idea," Jamie added, "Far too hot for a suit."

Lee and Janet agreed with the rest of them and they walked back to the hotel with no issues and each went to their rooms. As Jamie got ready for dinner he carefully took off the bandage on his arm and the gash was still bleeding a little. He took a shower but would need help re-bandaging his arm.

After getting dressed Jamie called Chip on his phone, "Hey Chip, I need a favor."

"Sure what is it? Do you want an additional 'Crane sitting' day," Chip snorted.

"No," Jamie exclaimed hastily, "I need help putting on a new bandage. Could you stop on your way to dinner and help me?"

Chip putting on his shirt replied, "I'll be there in fifteen minutes." Chip finished getting dressed and knocked on the door to Jamie's room. Opening the door, he was still holding a towel on his arm.

"How did you get hurt? You only went shopping," Chip asked as he took the supplies from Jamie and put them on the desk.

"Those two weren't paying attention and Lee would have been run over by a bike, if I hadn't stepped in front of it."

Snickering Chip said as he put on the new bandage, "Those two are trouble magnets."

"I agree with you and no wonder Harry doesn't want them going on vacation alone. Thanks, Chip," Jamie answered as they walked out the door meeting Harry on his way down to the bar. He asked how Jamie got hurt and Jamie told him. He took a deep breath and kept walking.

((()))

Janet brought a new short pink sun dress and white sandals to wear to dinner. Janet and Lee showered together as usual and he was ogling her as she got dressed. She winked at him so he came over and started to get a little frisky.

"Honey, we'll be late if you don't stop," she told him as he kissed her neck while she was putting on her make up.

"So we're late again. The others won't mind, remember we're on vacation," he said now kissing her shoulders.

"Remember where you left off and we'll finish when we come back," she replied wiggling away from him.

Smiling he stated, "I'll just have to start over at the beginning."

Grabbing her wrap, "Okay by me," she told him patting his bottom as they left the room.

They walked down to the lobby only to discover the rest of them hadn't arrived yet. Lee looked at Janet letting her know they could have finished what he started as the rest of them arrived a couple of minutes later. Janet looked over these four handsome men and was glad she had them all to herself. All the women were _eyeing_ her men when they went into the bar.

As soon as Janet saw Jamie she anxiously asked, "Jamie how's your arm."

"It's fine," he replied patting her arm letting her know he appreciated her concern.

They found at a table in the back of the bar. As soon as they sat down, a young good looking waitress came over to take their drink orders. She stared at the four fine-looking men at the table and winked at Chip who winked back. He looked her up and down as she walked away. After having a couple of drinks they headed to the steakhouse. Chip paid for the drinks leaving the waitress a nice tip.

Arriving at the Seafire steakhouse, they had no trouble getting a table and were seated immediately. Harry ordered round of drinks before dinner. They enjoyed their drinks just having a good time talking to each other about anything but work. After a wonderful steak dinner with baked potatoes and a salad, they were deciding what to do next since it was still early in the evening.

Putting her napkin on the table Janet told them, "Gentlemen, we are going to the night club for some drinks and dancing."

"I'm too old to go clubbing," Jamie said quietly. Harry was nodding his head in agreement.

"No one is too old and it will be fun," Chip smiled hoping to find a nice looking woman.

"You only have to stay for four dances," she informed them. "I get to dance with each one of you."

They all groaned including her husband. He's not a dancer but if she wanted to dance he would dance because it made her happy.

"No groaning allowed," she told them as she took her wrap off the back of the chair, "you might actually have a good time."

They left the restaurant, and walked to the nightclub. Lee and Janet walked hand in hand while the other three followed behind making sure they didn't run into any obstacles. When they walked in Janet saw the women take notice of the four men and watched them as their eyes followed her men as they headed for a table. It wasn't too crowded and the music wasn't too loud yet. They gave their drink orders to the waiter that came over to their table. As they were sitting there listening to the music a woman came up to Jamie.

"Would you like to dance?" she asked noticing he was sitting at the table moving to the music.

"Sure why not," Jamie said without hesitation.

He took the woman's hand and led her out to the dance floor. Janet didn't know what a fantastic dancer he was and couldn't wait for her turn to dance with him.

A tall sexy brunette along with an older but good looking red head also came over to the table.

Looking at Chip the brunette asked, "Hey handsome would you like to dance?"

"I would love to," Chip replied leading her to the dance floor.

"Would you like to dance?" the red head asked Harry softly.

"It would be my pleasure."

They also went out to the dance floor. Not wanting to be left out of the picture the gorgeous woman Chip ran into earlier in the week stopped by the table where Janet and Lee were sitting.

"How about a dance?" she asked in a husky sexy voice.

"No thank you. I don't think my wife would approve," he snickered as he grabbed Janet's hand and led her out to the dance floor holding her close as they danced. She rested her head on his shoulder. She loved being in his arms.

They were all having a good time even if they didn't want to admit it. They had ordered a few more drinks and danced several more dances with their partners before Janet finally got to dance with _her_ men. When Janet finished dancing with the admiral who was her last dance partner for the night she looked at her watch and was surprised to see it was 2400 hours. She had to admit she was tired and a little tipsy. They left the night club and as they made their way back to their rooms, they were debating on what to do tomorrow.

"You men can do whatever you want," Janet said tiredly. "I'm sleeping in. I know that will upset some people," she said looking at her husband grinning. "But I will decide at the last minute what I'm going to do. Harry, I believe you have 'Crane sitting' tomorrow. Depending on what Lee wants to do, you may get a reprieve."

Putting his arm around her waist, "I'm with her. No schedule for us tomorrow. Just do nothing, be alone and relax," Lee agreed.

"Well, Harry seems you get the day off." she said with a smirk. "But there's always tomorrow."

When they got to their rooms before going in, she kissed three of her men goodnight and thanked them for a wonderful evening. The fourth man would get a lot more than a kiss, which he did and enjoyed it immensely.

((()))

Janet woke up early the next morning with a headache knowing she had too much to drink last night. She got up, put on her robe and opened the doors to the balcony. She stood out on the balcony listening to the ocean and breathing in the fresh air. Lee was still in bed which was very unusual for him. He had a little too much to drink too. She quietly returned to the room, grabbed her camera and took his picture as he woke up.

"Why did you take my picture," he asked a little annoyed.

"Because I can," she responded with a wry smile and took another one.

"Why don't you come back to bed? It's still early and I have some plans for you for the next hour or so," he said seductively. "Do you remember where I left off?"

"No but that's okay, you'll just have to start over," she replied as she took her robe off and climbed back into bed. He kissed her passionately as he ran his hands over her body. She returned his kiss and his caress. It's a good thing the "Do Not Disturb" sign was on the door and they were on the fourth floor because she didn't shut the door to the balcony or close the drapes. They played in bed until 1000 hours. By that time they were both famished and deciding on what to order from room service when Lee's cell phone rang.

"Hello," Lee said softly as Janet lay next to him rubbing her hand on his chest.

"Are you going to stay in bed all day?" Chip teased him.

"Maybe, why do you have something better to do?" he said winking at Janet.

"Yes, how about going scuba diving. They have some exotic marine life, a few wrecks, and coral reefs to explore. Do you think Janet would mind if you went?"

"I wouldn't mind going scuba diving," he hesitated looking at her for an answer.

She nodded yes it was okay to go. She didn't mind and she couldn't go as he hadn't taught her how to scuba dive yet. She was supposed to be certified as required by regulation on _Seaview_ but he never got around to it.

"Sweetie, are you sure you don't mind," he asked for the second time as he put on his swim trunks and shirt.

"No, please go. You love to scuba dive and it relaxes you so go and have fun playing with the fishes. Chip will be your 'sitter'," she chuckled. "What about breakfast?"

"Don't want to eat before I dive. What are you going to do?"

"I'll call Harry and Jamie and tell them I will be at the pool so they know where I am, okay," she replied giving him a kiss.

"All right, thanks. Love you," he said returning her kiss.

"Love you too."

Janet called the adm...Harry she still can't get use to calling him that and told them she was going to get some breakfast and then go to the pool.

"Breakfast? It's almost lunch time," Harry said laughing. "You weren't kidding when you said you were going to sleep in. Is Lee going with Chip scuba diving?"

"Yes. I told him Chip was his 'sitter' today."

"Good, they both need to relax and enjoy themselves. Chip called and asked if I wanted to go too but I'm going to stay around here today. Jamie and I were going to get some lunch. Come with us and you can have breakfast. We'll pick you up at your room," Harry told her.

"I'll be ready in fifteen minutes." She slipped a short skirt over her swim suit, put on a blue shirt, tied it at the waist and put some mascara on the lashes. She grabbed her bag and was ready to go in thirteen minutes. Lee would be proud she was ready ahead of time.

Harry and Jamie knocked on the door. When she opened the door, Harry handed her the "Do Not Disturb" sign. Both of them had huge grins on their faces.

"Ready to go," Jamie said.

"Let's go," she replied embarrassed as she took the sign from him. "You both get to 'sit' me," she said as she linked her arms in theirs and walked down the hallway.

They went to the outdoor cafe and had a marvelous lunch together. They indulged themselves with a hamburger, french fries and key lime pie for dessert.

"I'm very happy none of you have gotten sunburn. It's pretty hot down here," Jamie remarked as they finished up their lunch.

"We've been putting suntan lotion on every time we go out," Janet assured him.

"Well if you do get sunburn, I brought a couple bottles of aloe but still please be careful with the sun."

"Yes, we will," they both answered.

After lunch Janet was going to sit at the pool and wait for Lee and Chip to come back from scuba diving. Harry and Jamie didn't want to let her out of their sight so they found some lounge chairs and sat with her. She got warm and decided to take a dip in the pool. As she stepped out of her skirt, her foot got caught on the edge of it and she lost her balance. Jamie saw that she was going to fall and hit her head on the ladder into pool so he lunged for her. He caught her arm before she fell but twisted his knee as he stopped her from falling.

_Damn, that hurt,_ Jamie thought as he tried to stand.

"Thanks, Jamie," Janet said not realizing Jamie was hurt and walked down the ladder into the pool after taking off her skirt and shirt.

The admiral saw what had taken place and went over to Jamie.

"Are you okay?" he asked helping Jamie stand up.

"No, I've twisted my knee," he whispered under his breath. "How long before we leave?"

Snickering, the admiral replied, "A couple more days."

Jamie limped back to the lounge chair with Harry's help. They both held their breaths as she got out of the pool, redressed and sat down next to them. Once she sat down they exhaled.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chip and Lee found their way down to the marina where they would leave for the two-tank half day dive. They would explore the coral reef known as "The Fish Hotel" along with wrecks off Paradise Island and the Tongue-of-the-Ocean wall that an array of exotic marine life called home. They picked up their scuba gear and made a thorough check of all the equipment before they put any of it on. The certified divers taking them out watched them check out the gear and knew they had a couple of experienced divers with them. After everyone was ready to go they left the marina on their dive. The waters were crystal clear and they enjoyed seeing the reefs, wrecks and walls.

Returning to the marina after their dive, they removed their gear and helped the guides store it before they left. As they walked up from the beach, Lee was talking to the guide not paying attention and didn't see the hole in the sand that someone must have dug. Chip saw the hole and joined Lee who moved over so he could walk them. Chip thought he cleared the hole but caught the edge, the sand collapsed around the hole and his foot went in. He managed to stay on his feet grabbing Lee's shoulder for support.

"Hey Chip, you okay," Lee asked worriedly as he saw Chip limping when he recovered his balance.

"Yeah just fell in a hole someone dug in the sand, I should be able to walk it off."

"You're limping pretty badly, you better have Jamie check it out when we get back," Lee told him as he helped him walk back to the pool.

When they got to the pool Janet was sitting on the side with her feet in the water. She saw Lee helping Chip and got up to see what had happened. Chip's limping also didn't get by Harry or Jamie.

Jamie got up from his chair and also limped over to Chip.

"Chip, what did you do?" Harry asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Rolled my ankle when I stepped in a hole."

Lee and Janet helped Chip sit down on the lounge chair where Jamie took a look at it.

"I don't think it's broken but severely sprained. Let's go back to the room where I can wrap it," Jamie told him as he looked at Chip who gave him a wry smile.

"I'll help you," Lee volunteered.

"No that's okay," both Jamie and Chip said in unison.

Jamie and Chip both limped to the elevators.

"Jamie, why are you limping?" Chip asked.

"I stopped Janet from hitting her head on the pool ladder when she tripped on her skirt. How did you fall in a hole?"

"Lee was talking to the diver guide and wasn't paying attention. I saw he was going to walk into it so I moved next to him. I caught the edge and the sand gave way," Chip explained as he ran his hand through his hair. "Thank goodness, they didn't come by themselves. We would have had to fly out here to help them. They're walking disasters."

Chuckling Jamie took his key card out of his pants, opened the door and helped Chip sit down.

((()))

Once in Jamie's room, Chip sat in the chair while Jamie wrapped his ankle and then grabbed another ace bandage and wrapped his own knee. His knee wasn't as swollen as Chip's ankle but it still hurt.

"You really should keep it up and iced," Jamie suggested as he put Chip's ankle on a chair and went to get some ice from the machine down the hall.

When he returned Chip said, "Thanks Jamie but there's one problem. I'm hungry. We didn't have lunch since we were on the dive. You should put some ice on your knee too."

Jamie was going to call Harry on his phone and have him bring up something to eat when there was a knock of the door. Harry, Lee and Janet were standing there wondering how Chip was.

"Nothing broke, just a bad sprain," Jamie told them before they could ask. They walked in the room and saw Chip sitting in a chair with his leg up.

"We do have a slight problem," Jamie told them smiling, "He's hungry. Why don't we wait an hour, let his ankle rest and then go out to dinner."

No surprise that Chip was hungry. He's always hungry so they decided on an early dinner. Nothing fancy, just a quiet dinner at the Italian restaurant. They'd have to pack tonight as they were leaving early the next morning for home.

Lee and Janet helped Chip limp back to his room where he sat down on the couch and Janet got a chair to put his foot on while Lee went to the ice machine right outside his door and brought a bucket of ice. Janet put some ice in a towel. She put two towels on his ankle before putting on the one with ice. Once she knew he was comfortable she went back to the room to get ready while Lee packed Chip's suitcase.

"Will you be okay while I get ready for dinner? We'll come and get you in an hour," Lee told Chip.

"Yes, I'll be fine. Just feel real stupid for falling in the hole," Chip said annoyed.

Giving him a wry grin, Lee left Chip and returned to his room. Janet had jumped in the shower while Lee was still with Chip and was drying her hair when Lee came to the room.

After she finished drying her hair, she put on a green dress and was putting on her make up when she mentioned to Lee, "As much as I enjoyed this vacation, I can't wait to get home. I miss seeing _Seaview_ from our bedroom window in her sub pen. I miss Angie and Wanda and the crew too. But I'm glad we got away."

"Sweetie, I was just thinking the same thing. I've enjoyed spending the last few days away from her and the institute but I will admit I miss her too. But I'm glad we decided to try and take another vacation. I think this one will be fine thanks to our 'sitters'", he chuckled as he got in the shower.

When they were ready, they walked to Chip's room and met the admiral and Jamie as they were coming out of their rooms. Even though his ankle was pretty sore, Chip was starving so he hobbled down with Lee's help to the restaurant which was in the hotel where they were staying. Jamie was also limping but Lee and Janet didn't notice as they were making sure Chip had no problems. Harry walked along side Jamie making sure he had no problems.

((()))

The hostess felt sorry Chip and Jamie as they limped in and sat them at a table close to the door. Jamie asked for another chair so Chip could keep his leg up. The hostess looked at Chip and was more than happy to help him out. Chip winked at her when she brought him the chair.

"I'll be glad to get home," Harry told them as he ordered a bottle of Chianti looking at Chip and Jamie. "It's been a nice vacation but..."

"There's going to be mounds of work for all of us," Chip said woefully before Harry could finish his sentence.

Taking a drink of the Chianti Janet toasted, "I'm proud of all of you. I can tell you're getting antsy to get back and see how the repairs are progressing but none of you made one call to the institute to check on _Seaview_ or what's going on at the office."

They all took a drink of their Chianti. Jamie, Harry, and Chip drained their glasses as Jamie poured another round for them.

Janet ordered eggplant parmesan while everyone else ordered lasagna and some more wine. Harry, Chip and Jamie were hoping they could get through dinner and on the airplane without any more mishaps. But that was wishful thinking on their parts.

They finished their scrumptious dinner and left the restaurant. As they were slowly walking through the lobby, a bell hop with a cart full of luggage didn't see Janet who was helping Chip but Harry saw him heading right for her. Without thinking he quickly pushed her out of the way as the bell hop ran right into him knocking him to the ground right on his wrist. Horrified at what just happened the poor bell hop quickly helped Harry up but the damage was done. The manager saw what had taken place and was very unhappy with the bell hop and told him to meet him in his office.

Jamie went over to Harry and examined his wrist, "Well you got lucky it only looks like a severe sprain."

"I'm so sorry," the hotel manager said apologizing profusely. "Let me call an ambulance."

"No thanks, Dr Jamieson will take care of it," Harry told the manager grimacing. "Please don't be too hard on the bell hop."

"If you insist I won't call an ambulance," he replied, "but if you need anything just call down to the desk. You will not be charged for your stay here."

"That's not necessary," Harry told him.

"No sir. Your injury could have been a lot more serious."

"Thank you," Harry said as he held his wrist which was starting to swell.

Janet helped Chip hobble to the elevators as Lee and Jamie helped Harry. Janet had no idea that the bell hop would have hit her if he hadn't pushed her out of the way.

_Thank god we're leaving tomorrow, _Jamie thought on the way to his room. _I'm running out of supplies._

Once in Jamie's room, he took out the last ace bandage he brought and wrapped Harry's wrist. Going out again to the ice machine he filled the ice bucket. Putting some ice in a towel he gently laid it on Harry's wrist after putting it in a sling. Lee helped the admiral back to his room while Janet made sure Chip was situated in his room. After making sure Harry was settled in his room and his luggage packed, Lee returned to their room.

"Looks like Chip, Jamie and Harry ran into some bad luck while on vacation," Janet said innocently getting ready for bed.

"Sure does," Lee replied as he got ready too.

They climbed into bed and fell asleep right away. Jamie, Harry and Chip managed to get ready for bed and couldn't wait to leave the Bahamas.

((()))

Everyone was up early the next morning so they could have some breakfast before boarding the plane. Lee and Janet went to Chip's room to help him get to breakfast. They noticed the swelling had gone down a little on his ankle and he was able to walk on it but with a limp. Jamie and Harry were leaving their rooms and meet the other three in the hall.

"Harry, how is your wrist this morning?" Janet asked worriedly after seeing it in the sling.

"Sore but I'll be fine," Harry grinned.

Jamie just looked at Chip and Harry and sighed. He prayed they could make it to the airplane before anything else happened.

Going to a small cafe by the pool, they had a large breakfast as they wouldn't get anything to eat until they got home. The airplane only served pretzels and cookies. When they were finished, Lee and Janet returned to the rooms along with a bell hop and got the luggage for all of them so Harry, Jamie and Chip wouldn't have to go back upstairs.

Lee ordered a limo for the ride to the airport. At the airport, Lee and Janet checked all the luggage with a sky cap while the rest of them waited at the security check point. After they cleared security, Lee and Janet were walking in front of the rest of them. They turned around to ask Jamie a question and saw the three of them were quite a distance behind them. Normally they all walked at a fast pace. Janet noticed that Jamie was limping along with Chip.

"Lee look at the three of them. They are all injured...I know how they got some of their injuries but...?"

Surprised Lee looked at them too, "Sweetie, I don't know. We better find out."

They waited while the three of them caught up to them. They also saw that Jamie's arm was still bandaged, Chip still had the stitches in his forehead and scrapes from his fall the first day and the admiral still had a black eye in addition to their other injuries.

"Jamie, why are you limping...how did you get hurt," Janet asked cautiously.

Sighing he replied, "I twisted my knee when I stopped you from hitting your head on the pool ladder when you tripped on your skirt the day Lee and Chip went scuba diving."

"I know you were run over by a bicycle but why did _you_ get hit, I didn't see any bike?" she continued afraid of what the answer would be.

"The boy on the bike was going to run right into Lee so I stepped in front of him."

"Oh," she replied quietly.

"What about you two," Lee wondered, "I was there when you received some of those injuries but what is the real reason you're hurt?"

Chip and Harry looked at each other and they both took a deep breath.

Chip spoke up first, "I fell and hit my face on the rock when you didn't see the jellyfish on the beach so I pushed you out of the way so you wouldn't step on it and I twisted my ankle making sure you didn't fall in the hole in the sand when we were walking back from scuba diving."

Lee turned Harry, "Well?"

"I didn't run into the door like I told Janet. She accidentally hit me in the eye with her camera when I stopped her from falling in the pool and I stepped in front of the bell hop so he wouldn't hit her with the cart of luggage."

Lee and Janet stood there with their mouths open. They didn't know what to say. Their friends protected them from getting hurt so they could enjoy the vacation.

Lee dressed in a blue shirt with a grey jacket was carrying Chip's carryon with a black strap on one shoulder and Harry's with the brown strap on the other shoulder flashed them that special grin, "Thank you for doing that. I guess our vacation would have been a real disaster if the 'Crane sitters' hadn't stepped in. We're sorry all of you got hurt," Lee told them while Janet nodded her head in agreement.

"Harry, I guess this means we still can't go on vacation by ourselves," Janet said doubtfully.

"Not unless you go someplace cold where you can wear winter coats, hats, boots, gloves and whatever else you can use as padding. Even then I would be afraid to let you out of my sight. You two are trouble magnets," he told them honestly.

The group continued their slow walk to the departure gate and boarded the plane for the short flight to Miami. Before settling in for the long flight to LAX, Lee and Janet feeling sorry for their friends and all the problems they caused so they paid to upgrade all their seats to business class so Chip and Jamie could stretch out their legs and Harry would have more room to rest his arm.

They had an uneventful flight from Miami to LAX. Even though it was a Saturday night, LAX wasn't too crowded so they landed with no problems and waited until everyone was off the plane before they left. They didn't want to hold anyone up when they walked to the gate. Before they left Miami, Harry called the institute and arranged to have a driver take them home from the airport. He was waiting for them at the baggage claim so he could help them with their luggage and was surprised to see three of them with injuries. Lee helped him put the luggage in the car while the rest of them climbed in. Janet was sitting in the back seat with Jamie, Harry, and Lee. It was easier for Chip to get into the front seat with his ankle.

"I guess none of you had a good time," Janet remarked sadly as they drove home from the airport.

Jamie replied as he patted Janet's hand, "The weather was perfect, the resort was nice and even though there were some minor issues, I still had a good time."

"I enjoyed myself even with injuries," Chip piped up. "I would go back again with you."

"Janet, you picked a wonderful place for our vacation and yes I had a good time too," the admiral told her smiling.

"Thank you," Janet replied softly.

When they arrived at the institute, the admiral had the driver dropped them off at the dock. They all needed to check on _Seaview_. She had been moved from her underground pen back to Dock A. They all stood on the dock looking lovingly at her as she rested serenely in her pen.

"You four are quite a sight. You're treating her like a toy you've abandoned," Jamie said laughing. "Alright I missed her too."

After saying good bye to Harry and Jamie, Lee and Janet put their luggage and Chip's in the car and drove home. Jamie would make sure Harry got home and settled in before he headed home. Lee and Janet dropped Chip off at his door so he wouldn't have far to walk. Lee brought in his suitcase and put it in the bedroom for him.

"Thanks Lee," Chip said as he sat down and put his foot up as his ankle was starting to ache.

"I'm really sorry 'bro' for all the trouble we caused," Lee said quietly while Janet got some ice for his ankle.

"Hey forget about it. I know you would do the same thing for me," Chip told him.

Nodding his head Lee replied, "Good night Chip. See you tomorrow."

((()))

Lee and Janet drove back to their house. After taking the luggage out of the car and putting it in the front hall it was nice to sit down on the couch where Janet put her head on Lee's shoulder and yawned.

"Thank you for a wonderful vacation, honey. I had a wonderful time even with the 'Crane sitters'. But I do feel guilty they are all hurt while we didn't even get a scratch," Janet lamented.

"Yes it was nice getting away from everything and I'm sure they won't hold it against us," he told her rubbing her arm and nuzzling her neck.

Leaning away from him she looked at him and could see his eyes full of mischief. She grabbed his hand and led him upstairs to the bedroom. They removed each other clothes and climbed into bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Lee was up early the next morning and went for a run while Janet stayed in bed still tired from the previous night's antics. Lee was outside on the patio when his cell phone rang at 0800 hours. He answered the call right away recognizing the admiral's number.

"Good morning sir. Is something wrong...how's your arm...do you need any help?"

The admiral was sitting at his kitchen table eating breakfast when he called. "Hi Lee. Everything is fine," he replied with a grin, "I've decided to have a barbecue today to show our appreciation for all the hard work Chief Sharkey, Bob O'Brien, Kowalski, Patterson and Riley did on the repairs to _Seaview_. I'm also inviting Angie and Wanda. I'm sure they had a lot to deal with while all of us were gone. Chip and Jamie will be invited too."

"Sound like a great idea. I'll ask Janet to whip up a batch of brownies and chocolate chip cookies. Is there anything else you need? I'll be over early to help."

"No Lee, those items will be fine and Sally is here to help out so you don't need to come early. See you about 1400 hours."

"Yes, sir." Lee hung up the phone and went into the house where Janet was in the kitchen cooking breakfast.

"I see you finally decided to get out of bed," Lee joked as he kissed her, poured them a cup of coffee which he could see was nice and strong and sat down at the table.

Walking over to the table she said lovingly, "You wore me out last night," returning his kiss as she put his breakfast in front of him.

Taking a gulp of coffee he told her, "The admiral is having a barbecue today and I volunteered you to bring brownies and chocolate chip cookies."

"Thanks for letting me know," she replied as she took out the mixer and ingredients.

"Sweetie, could you make those amaretto brownies?" he asked sweetly putting a fork full of eggs in his mouth. "I'll call Chip and let him know we'll pick him up."

"Okay honey, but when you're done with breakfast could you please download the pictures from the vacation to the computer. I would do it but since I was volunteered to make the brownies and cookies I won't have time and I want to take the camera to the barbecue and take more pictures."

Before calling Chip he took another drink of the coffee as he dialed Chip's number he replied, "Sure, no problem."

"Hi Chip. Did the admiral call you about the barbecue...How's your ankle?"

Sitting with his ankle on the chair Chip replied, "Yes, he did. The ankle's better this morning."

Still holding the coffee cup in his hand Lee told him, "We'll pick you up at 1345."

"Thanks, Lee. See you then."

Lee finished breakfast cleaned up the breakfast dishes while Janet was baking and went in his office to download the pictures. It was taking a long time since there were quite of a few of them. He was looking at them when Janet came in to check on his progress. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed the top of his head.

"I sure took a lot of pictures," Janet remarked as she was looking at them too. They came across the one she took of him in bed.

"I don't like this picture," Lee stated, "I'm going to delete it."

"Don't you dare," she threatened, "You look very sexy in that picture."

"Sexy? I just woke up," he replied raising his eyebrows.

"Honey, it's my picture and I like it," Janet said a little tersely but Lee knew she was only joking.

"Alright, I'll let you keep it," he replied kissing her hands.

The timer on the stove went off so Janet left to take the brownies out of the oven while Lee turned off the computer, took the camera and put it by the door.

((()))

While the brownies were cooling, Janet went upstairs to get ready. Lee joined her and if they didn't hurry they were going to be late. It was a warm day so they both put shorts and shirts.

They put the brownies, cookies and camera in the car and went to Chip's house. He was walking a little better and they could see his ankle wasn't nearly as swollen as it was yesterday. Lee went back for the case of beer Chip told the admiral he would bring and put it in the back of the SUV.

"I smell brownies and chocolate chip cookies," Chip said once he was in the car.

Janet had them in the back seat with her so she gave him a brownie.

"Thanks," he said with a big grin on his face, "just what the doctor ordered."

As they pulled up to the admiral's house, Sharkey, Kowalski, Patterson, Bob and Riley were just pulling in too. Chip got out of the car and they were surprised to see him limping. They walked over to him and saw that his ankle was wrapped, his faced scraped, bruised and a bandage on his forehead. Riley took the brownies and cookies from Janet as she got out of the car. Lee went to the back of the SUV to get the beer which Kowalski took from him.

"Ah...Mr. Morton, I thought you went on vacation?" Sharkey asked him as he limped around the car.

"I did. Ran into a rock and a hole," Chip replied with a smile.

Janet took the camera out of the car and they all walked to the admiral's patio in the back of the house. Kowalski brought the beer to the cooler and put it on ice while Riley gave the cookies and brownies to Janet who put them in the kitchen.

"Hello, everyone," the admiral greeted them. Sharkey stopped and looked at the admiral who had his arm in a sling and a black eye.

"Sir, what kind of vacation did you go on?" he asked warily, "you look like you went a round with a boxer."

The admiral replied grinning, "Just some bad luck."

Sharkey stood there staring at the two officers and shook his head. He was glad he didn't go on vacation with them. As he went to get a beer, Jamie came in limping. Sharkey stopped and looked at him. He noticed he also had a large bandage on his arm.

"Doc, what happen to you?" Patterson asked as they stared at Jamie.

Smiling Jamie said nonchalantly "A couple of small accidents."

Patterson helped Jamie sit down and got him a beer. It was a beautiful sunny day so they were sitting around the patio talking about the vacation when Angie and Wanda walked in and stopped in their tracks when they saw the admiral, Chip, and Jamie sporting bruises and bandages.

"That must have been some wild vacation you went on," Angie commented looking at Janet and Lee and not seeing any injuries.

"Sit down all of you and we'll tell you what happened," the admiral told them as Angie and Wanda sat next to the admiral.

Lee went to the kitchen and brought out a bottle of wine and poured a glass for Angie, Wanda and Janet while he grabbed a beer for himself from the cooler. Now that everyone had a drink the admiral told all of them how they were all injured. After he finished, they shook their heads with slight grins on their faces. Janet was taking pictures of all of them.

As they sat around Lee asked, "Did you get _Seaview_ repaired?"

"All the frames are repaired and she's ready for her next mission," Bob told them. "It took a little longer to repair a couple of the frames but the crew did a good job."

"Thanks men," Lee said appreciatively.

"Angie, how much work is on our desks," the admiral asked warily.

"Well, to be honest quite a bit. Wanda and I did the best we could but most of it you, Lee and Chip will have to take care of," Angie answered taking a sip of wine. "Janet your desk isn't much better."

"We figured we would have a lot to catch up on," Chip said frankly taking swig of his beer.

((()))

Since Lee and Janet were the only ones not injured they took care of getting all the food ready. Lee started the barbecue so he could cook the hamburgers and hot dogs. Janet went into the house with Kowalski who helped her bring out the plates, napkins, silverware, buns, condiments and salads the admiral had Sally prepare. They set everything up on the table near the grill. When the hamburgers and hot dogs were finished, Lee put them on a serving plate. They all helped themselves to the food and sat down as they listened to the rest of the vacation stories. When they finished eating, Lee and Janet with the help of Riley, cleaned up the plates and put the food away. Lee brought out another case of beer and another bottle of wine for all of them.

After a few minutes the admiral stood up and proposed a toast with his good hand, "We want to thank those who stayed behind and took care of the repairs to _Seaview_ and to Angie and Wanda who kept the institute running while we were away."

"Thank you," Lee, Chip and Janet told all of them as they raised their glasses.

If Lee and Janet wanted to take another vacation, someone would have to go with them if the admiral wanted his Captain back in one piece along with his wife so still standing he had a question for all of them.

"Now I'm looking for volunteers to go on Lee and Janet's next vacation. Any takers?" the admiral chortled.

No one volunteered to accompany them on their next vacation until finally Jamie spoke up.

"I'll go again with them on vacation," Jamie volunteered grinning, "but I might have to pack few more medical supplies."

"I'll be a 'Crane sitter'," Chip stated smiling at Lee and Janet.

Not wanting to be left out Harry said, "Count me in too."

The rest of them breathed a sigh of relief. None of them had a problem spending time with the skipper and his wife but going on vacation with them would be a whole different story especially after what happened on this one. Lee and Janet looked at each other and then at their 'Crane sitters'.

With a huge grin on his face Lee told them, "You three are sure gluttons for punishment but you can all relax we aren't planning any more vacations in the near future."

"Thank goodness," Chip mumbled and only Sharkey heard it. He sat there with a huge smile on his face as he took a swig of his beer.

Janet, Wanda and Angie went in the house to bring out the desserts and coffee. Wanda made a cheesecake while Angie brought a chocolate cake. It was early evening and starting to cool off, so the admiral asked Patterson to make a fire in the fire pit on his patio. Everyone sat around the fire eating their desserts and drinking coffee. The coffee must have tasted good as Janet had to make another pot. They were enjoying each other company so they continued to talk about the repairs and the vacation. It was 2200 hours when they said their good byes and thanked the admiral for a nice time. They all left leaving only Chip, Jamie, Lee and Janet still there. Janet had gone into the kitchen to finish cleaning up the dessert dishes and coffee cups while the men sat outside.

"Harry, thank you for a wonderful afternoon," Jamie said. "I had a great time."

"Thank you sir," Chip added putting the last chocolate chip cookie in his mouth.

"Yes, admiral we had a nice afternoon and thank you for throwing the barbecue. The crew, Wanda and Angie earned this party," Lee remarked as Janet came out of the house.

"All cleaned up," she told the admiral, "Sally won't even know we were here."

"Thanks for all your help," he replied smiling at her.

"Sir," Lee said softly.

"Yes Lee," the admiral answered looking at Lee raising his eye brows.

"None of you need to go on vacation with us if you don't want too. I wouldn't blame you if you never went with us again. I don't think we'll ever attempt another vacation."

"How about we worry about that when the time comes," the admiral said as he patted him on the shoulder.

"Good night Harry," Jamie said, "See you and Chip tomorrow to check on your injuries around 0900."

Groaning Chip replied, "Yes Jamie."

Chip, Lee and Janet said good bye to the admiral and Jamie. Janet gave the admiral a kiss on the cheek before leaving.

"I had a wonderful time. Thank you sir."

Janet grabbed her camera and her empty plates as they left the patio and walked to the car. Lee took the keys out of his pocket, unlocked the car and held the door for Janet. She hopped in the back while Chip got in the front. They drove to Chip's house.

"We'll pick you up tomorrow at 0700 for work," Lee told Chip as he was getting out of the car.

"Okay, see you tomorrow," he told them as he limped into the house.

Lee and Janet parked the car in the driveway and went in the house. Janet left the camera on the chair in the living room. It was cool outside and still early enough so Lee made a fire. They cuddled next to each other watching the flames.

"I can't believe the admiral, Jamie and Chip would go again on vacation with us," Janet said truthfully.

"I was surprised too, but I'm not ready for another vacation. How about you?"

"No home is just fine with me. I don't want to take advantage of the 'Crane sitters'".

They sat on the couch for a little while longer watching the fire die out before going up to bed. Janet went upstairs while Lee made sure everything was locked up. He took the camera with him when he went upstairs.

"I have a ton of pictures to download after work tomorrow," Janet said yawning.

After she climbed in bed and got settled Lee snapped a picture of her catching her by surprise.

"Lee, why did you take a picture of me? I don't have any makeup on and my hair is a mess," Janet complained.

"Because _I_ can," he smirked as he put the camera down on the chair and climbed in bed with her.

The End.


End file.
